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Gaza residents 'caged in a toxic slum: UN human rights chief Zeid

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein has slammed Israel for its treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. He said its response to recent protests was "wholly disproportionate."

Israel has been keeping 1.9 million Palestinians "caged in a toxic slum from birth to death" in the Gaza Strip, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein told a special session of the Human Rights Council on Friday.

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Israel threatens Hamas leaders

Gaza Violence

Israel has been "systematically depriving" Palestinians of their rights.

"End the occupation and the violence and insecurity will largely disappear."

There is "little evidence" that Israel tried to keep casualties to a minimum during protests earlier this week.

The protesters' "actions alone do not appear to constitute the imminent threat to life or deadly injury which could justify the use of lethal force."

"Killing resulting from the unlawful use of force by an occupying power may also constitute wilful killings, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

Palestinian PM Rami Hamdallah targeted

The convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah of the West Bank-based Fatah group was targeted as he made a rare visit to Gaza on March 13. The Palestinian Authority said it held Hamas responsible, having failed to provide adequate security. Hamas claimed the attack was aimed at hurting efforts to achieve unity and reconciliation.

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

Land Day march

Some 30,000 Palestinians took part in the first of the demonstrations on March 30, marking Land Day, named for the 1976 Arab protests against Israeli plans to expropriate land. Some demonstrators ran at the border fence and 16 were killed by Israeli troops with others injured, and some dying later.

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

Netanyahu: 'We will hurt them'

Speaking on April 9 in the Israeli town of Sderot, near Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We have one clear and simple rule and we seek to express it constantly: If someone tries to attack you — rise up and attack him. We will not allow, here on the Gaza border, them to hurt us. We will hurt them."

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

Protesters injured

Palestinians ran to help a young man injured during the border protest on April 13. Stones had been thrown at border guards and the Israeli troops fired on the demonstrators. Some 45 Palestinians died and hundreds were injured between March 30 and April 27.

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

Boy killed on April 20

Protest continued on April 20th, with some Palestinian protesters using kites to transport Molotov cocktails and firebombs over the fence. Israeli snipers killed at least four more Palestinians on April 20th, including a 15-year-old boy. The UN Middle East envoy dubbed the killing "outrageous."

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

May 15: US Embassy officially moved to Jerusalem from Tel-Aviv

US President Donald Trump's daugher Ivanka is part of the delegation that opened the new US Embassy in Jerusalem. The transfer of the embassy triggered a fresh wave of protests in which 62 people were killed. The deaths have considerably heightened tensions in the area.

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

US no longer seen as partner in Middle East negotiations

As the US celebrated its embassy move from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, Palestinian protests escalated. The events coincided with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of modern-day Israel, and Nakba Day, when Palestinians recall those who fled or were expelled as Israel was established.

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

More than 60 people were killed in protests

Palestinians carried away a protester injured on May 15th after demonstrations marking the 70th anniversary of Nakba.

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

Palestinian youths run from tear gas

Hamas official Salah al-Bardaweel said on Palestinian television that all but 12 of the dead were members of Hamas. Mahmoud Abbas the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization is planning to pursue a war crimes complaint against Israel at the International Criminal Court.

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

Israeli airstrikes pound Hamas military targets in Gaza

Following an increase in cross-border violence in mid-July, Israel pounded Hamas military targets in Gaza, while Palestinian militants fired more than 170 rockets and mortars into Israel. Two Palestinian boys, aged 15 and 16, were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to Gaza's health ministry. Three Israelis were injured after a rocket landed on a residential home in the Israeli city of Sderot.

How the Gaza protests against Israel escalated this year

Days later, Israel blocked all fuel and gas transfers through the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip for six days "in light of the continued terrorist attempts of Hamas." Israel's defense ministry said essential food and medicine deliveries would still get through. The crossing had been shuttered to commercial trade a week earlier.

Possible violations: The Human Rights Council voted to send an international team of war crimes investigators to examine the deadly shootings by Israeli soldiers. Only the United States and Australia voted against the measure while 14 abstained, including Germany and the UK.

Why is the UN concerned? Israeli forces have killed well over 100 Palestinians during the protests, including some 60 on Monday during demonstrations coinciding with the move of the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

What does Israel say to justify its actions? Israel says the harsh action taken by its forces were necessary to stop mass infiltrations from the enclave, run by the Islamist movement Hamas.